Advice please on Adderall or Ritalin for SA

I am convinced this is the treatment I need! I am absolutely desperate. I have been treated for the last 25 years with every antidepressant and benzodiazepine going but no success. Also tried CBT, Psychotherapy etc.... I took this article to my psychiatrist but he is not to keen on the idea.

I went ahead and ordered some off the internet which turned out to be fake. What do I do now. I am so fed up and frustrated. Please can anyone offer any other advice.

I have many experience with all kinds of drugs (both mentioned above are speed basically) i can tell you it wont help much at sustainable dosages it will only build up your confidence a bit, if you want it to be helpful you should take an increased dose which would erode your health quickly (3-4 days). If you want go ahead and try it as a therapy but from my experience i would reccomend it strongly only to be used sometimes in certain social situation you find very difficult to cope with.

I just try to space them out a bit, ideally, benzo first then a couple hours later adderall so they don't affect eachother as much. I also take 2 or 3 days off a week to avoid any tolerance/dependence. It's the only way I can function/hold a job/leave the apartment. Its too bad it's hard to get both prescribed at the same time; it buys me about 5 hours of feeling normal and social.

Everyone has different reactions and experienced with different drugs of course, but in my 4 years of experience with the two I can't really say too much against them, just take a few days off to avoid tolerance.

Its a temporary fix and causes dependance imho. These drugs are speed like it has been mentioned and after the effect wears off my anxiety comes back which leaves me quickly running for anotherone, because i can't stand being anxious after having felt good for so long and therefore I finish a 30 day package in 3 days.

I know this is a rare case, but be careful they are very addictive and they are not intended for social anxiety but for concentrating for hyper kids during specific times, basically while you' are on it, you feel like the movie limitless, you'll be charming, in control, smart, sure of you're self, and not hungry at all, but when the effect wears off, you'll miss feeling so good and might have to pop another one if you have an addictive personality. If thats not the case, then the pill might just work wonders on you if you know how to take it on moderation, and about how to get some, you should go see a doctor and possibly even show her/him this article and tell him you want to try it and you have tried everything else.

Cognitive: Everytime you get a negative thought, cut it down with a rational statement and you'll break the cycle down fast till it has no power over you and shrinks...

Behavioural: get out, stay out, join groups, clubs, teams, plays, etc... "however you feel, get up, dress up and show up" People are nicer than you think, rediscover this and stay active and go to as many social activities as you can... this is the essence of confidence..

Getting a prescription for stimulants is probably even harder than getting one for benzos here. Basically NICE guidelines describe your routes to meds. Helpfully they made a handy tool for you to see which mental disorders you would need before speaking to your NHS SSRI / Tricyclic loving psychiatrist.

(Interestingly, MAOI is now on there so for those struggling in the UK to get Nardil, printing this would be a way to eventually get it from a psych. You would need to go, SSRI -> other SSRI -> SNRI -> MAOI

So you can get an MAOI if you go down the route of social anxiety, you can get also get Pregabalin if you go down the route of GAD.

Refer adults with ADHD symptoms and moderate or severe impairment that have persisted from childhood and are not explained by other psychiatric diagnoses (although other psychiatric conditions may coexist) to a mental health specialist trained in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD.
Refer adults who have been treated for ADHD in childhood and have symptoms suggestive of continuing ADHD associated with moderate or severe impairment to general adult psychiatric services

So pretty much, if you had ADHD as a child, could convince them it is impairing as an adult (might not be easy) you could get some form of stims (but not Adderall). If you had ADHD as a child and you weren't diagnosed, you are out of luck here I think.

Your psych might be open to Pregabalin or Nardil. It would be surprising if they went for anything else.

I would avoid Ritalin at all costs. Ritalin made my anxiety significantly worse and never failed to give me a headache shortly after ingestion.
I find adderall very helpful for getting work done and also for having the energy to talk to people on a daily basis (even after a year of taking it). However, it does nothing to ease my anxiety; like someone said already, it made me somewhat high the first few days (and helped my anxiety) and then stopped doing that rather abruptly.

I have tried just about ALL the antidepressants over a 20 year period and to be honest I haven't found them any help with anxiety. I have never tried an MAOI though.

I saw my psychiatrist last week and there is no way they will consider Adderall or Ritalin (no surprise) He asked if he though I had ever had ADHD and I said no - I can't lie! I just showed him articles where it had worked for people with SA but he wasn't having it.

I am lucky that I have a good relationship with my GP who will prescribe Benzos when I need them.

I wish there was something that worked like alcohol (without all the negatives) I gave up drinking a couple of years ago, so that is not longer an option.

That's ok, I didn't think it would help you so much personally, but perhaps some others stumbling across it would see and realise there is a fairly clear and attainable route to getting Nardil prescribed via the NHS.

It is definitely worth considering Nardil, and also Pregabalin. (I would try pregabalin first because its efficacy would become known quite quickly). You might need to push some generalised anxiety type symptoms to get that prescribed, but it shouldn't be too much of a hard sell.